Cinque Terre, Florence, Venice

Old Mar 25th, 2017, 08:01 AM
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Cinque Terre, Florence, Venice

Hi All! Just wanted some input for my upcoming trip as far as how many days to spend in each place/if it is feasible! I will be flying from the US in April landing in London early AM around 0555 and planning to catch a flight to Genoa, Italy around noon that same day. I have about 8 total days for the three cities/areas once landing in London. Then planning to take a train to CT area spend a few days hiking around and seeing the villages. Thought was to train it to Pisa to see the tower then onto Florence via train for a few days and then head to Venice for a night or two (via train) before flying back to London to take a mid morning flight out the next day back to the US. Dates would be April 21 (arriving London 4/22/17) and leaving London mid morning 4/30/17. Not really planning to see London this time around so may be taking late flights from Venice to London, sleeping and catching a plane! Any thoughts/input would be greatly appreciated or if I should reverse the trip etc! Thanks!
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Old Mar 25th, 2017, 08:37 AM
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Don't fly to London. It wastes your time. Fly to Venice, visit Venice. Train to Florence, Pisa, CT and fly home from Genoa.
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Old Mar 25th, 2017, 09:15 AM
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If money and time weren't an option I would definitely go for that but I am coming from Colorado, so there is no easy way to get out of the country to Europe when I don't live on the East Coast. The flights into Italy are either outrageously expensive or give me less time because it's +2 days with flying. I've scrutinized flights getting me to JFK or Boston, etc to Italy and taking a cheap flight to the East Coast but no dice as far as times/flights matching up, sadly!
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Old Mar 25th, 2017, 09:45 AM
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I've done the "book separate tickets" connections several times in Europe. It can work, but it is risky. Try to do it one way only if possible - maybe book an open jaw so you fly into London out of Italy or vice versa, if that price isn't too much higher.

Remember, if you are looking at easyJet or Ryan Air from London to Italy, you will have other hidden fees like baggage fees, etc. so don't forget to add those in when comparing the cost of a round trip to London plus two cheap flights. It may not really save you as much as you think.

Also, in London those cheap flights often don't go out of the same airport you might fly into from Colorado. You'll probably fly into LHR/Heathrow from Denver, right? If you have to change to another London airport, add a few extra hours and more uncertainty not to mention the inconvenience. You might look at different staging airport like Paris, Amsterdam, or Frankfurt instead of London.
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Old Mar 25th, 2017, 10:16 AM
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I'll have to look into Amsterdam and Frankfurt! I have looked into Paris as well, which are about the same price as London. My two gfs are flying into Paris but planning to spend a day or two there, then want to do Venice Florence and Almalfi Coast (I think it's too little time) so I'm trying to kinda do my own thing and maybe meet up with them if it works out! But thanks for the info! I'll look into the open ended London thing!
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Old Mar 25th, 2017, 12:00 PM
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Too few days for what you are planning. Chose 2 of the 3. If I were you I would go to Florence and Venice because both have airports with good access to flights to London. Flying to Genoa and taking a train to the CT will take you the whole day and that's almost 15% of your trip.
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Old Mar 25th, 2017, 01:13 PM
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Two days in Cinque Terre, stop via Pisa to Florence, won't take long, grab a cab there. We almost did it when we changed trains there but connection was tight. It didn't excite me that much. Florence and Venice for the rest of your days. I like Florence more than Venice so you decide. Fly out of Venice for sure. I flew to Frankfurt once from Philly and then to Florence catching the train right after to La Spezia to see Cinque Terre. We liked La Spezia and got up early and hit the villages hiking. Train station or ferry. I said two days just in case it rained one of the days. I would have loved an extra day.
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Old Mar 25th, 2017, 01:18 PM
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I think you can do what you plan practically enough by train, even though it will be a really quick trip:

Fly London/Paris/TBD-Genoa 4/22
4/22 Sleep in CT
4/23 CT
4/24 Florence (with day stop in Pisa on the way)
4/25 Florence
4/26 Florence
4/27 Venice
4/28 Venice
4/29 Fly Venice-London/Paris/TBD
4/29 TBD
Fly TBD-USA
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Old Mar 25th, 2017, 01:28 PM
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You can look at the United flight DEN-CDG instead of London. I see one 4/21 (arrive 4/22) that gets you into Paris at 6:55a. There are direct flights to Genoa on Air France at 10:05a and 3:35p. No change of airports. It looks like your London connection would involve changing from LHR to STN, arrive LHR at 5:55a and depart STN on RyanAir at 12:10p. That's probably doable assuming everything is perfectly on time and no checked bags but not much margin for error - and as I said, don't assume that $25 RyanAir flight is really $25 (see below). The Air France flight is much more expensive but fewer extra fees - and there's another flight later in the day if you miss the first one. And it gets you into Genoa a few hours earlier than that RyanAir flight.

Coming back, you could fly Venice to CDG on easyJet, into Paris at 8:25a, out of Paris at 1:10p on the United flight home, so you'd have an extra night in Venice and wouldn't have to overnight anywhere in between. This is a few hundred dollars more expensive than the London scenario, but no hotel in a place you aren't going to see, less uncertainty, etc.

If you do wind up going RyanAir, read this:

https://thepointsguy.com/2014/03/top...yanair-flight/

e.g., make sure you've printed your RyanAir boarding pass before you get to the airport to avoid paying 70 euros(!) just to print your boarding pass there - ouch! easyJet has restrictions too, but perhaps not this bad.
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Old Mar 26th, 2017, 07:47 AM
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Thank you so much for everyone's input! Those were the flights I was looking at for London, etc!

My next question is, since I haven't ever been to mainland Europe (aside from Iceland), how much time is needed between flights/connections? IF I land in Paris at 0755 would I be able to catch the Air France flight to Genoa at 1005 am (assuming there's no delays etc). And if I flew from Venice to Paris and arrived at 0825 am, to catch my fight to the US at 1040 am, is that enough time? Do I go through customs etc in Paris and every time I go to a new country (so will I go through customs etc once I arrive in Genoa?) Probably a silly question but not sure how that all works over there!
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Old Mar 26th, 2017, 09:05 AM
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Keep in mind that some people consider the "connect yourself on a separate ticket with only a few hours layover" too risky. I have done it a few times; some people spend a night to avoid the risk of missing a flight due to a delay. I think no checked bags is sort of a given if you want to make this work - though with easyJet you may have to check one if you have any sort of heavy bag - they are pretty strict.

Both of those connections in Paris are fairly tight when changing airlines (and are tighter than the connections I proposed). You may also have to change terminals completely at CDG (there's a shuttle train) and that takes more time, especially if you aren't familiar with the airport.

When you arrive at CDG from the US, you have to go through immigration (and customs, but usually that means just walking past them, not waiting in a line, if you have nothing to declare). When you fly from Venice to Paris, you're within the Schengen area, which is almost like a domestic flight in the US. You go through passport control in Paris to exit the Schengen area when you depart for your US flight. So the departure from Venice should be fast (which doesn't help you much), but you probably have to change terminals at CDG and go through security again to get to your fight back to the US.

Immigration in Paris can be quick or it could be long. I've heard people say recently that immigration alone took a hour or more. The last time I did it in Paris, I zipped through in seven minutes from deplane to exit(!) but that was probably an outlier. I'd guess 30-60 minutes to be safe.

I have done really tight connections like this a few times, but not in Paris (well - once I flew in and had a tight connection to a train - but that's something else). I have done most of my connections in Amsterdam, which is an efficient airport. I would be OK with the 3:10 connection I proposed above to Genoa via Paris but 2:10 seems too tight and probably very, very tight with checked bags. The return via easyJet sounds very risky because you almost certainly have to check a bag and change terminals - 2:15 to deplane, fetch your bag, change terminals, and go through passport control and security and then catch an international flight...I wouldn't do it, I doubt you'd make it. The Venice to Paris connection I proposed would give you 4:45 to connect, which seems like plenty of time.

If you miss the Air France flight to Genoa because you were late from the US, you can likely take the next AF flight...at your own expense, at the price of a new last-minute ticket. But at least there are direct flights later to Genoa after yours. It's a risk you have to be willing to take. (Flight insurance might cover the expenses due to a delay - you can check.) Even then, the 2:10 connection to Genoa you propose seems very tight and would make me very nervous.
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Old Mar 27th, 2017, 12:15 AM
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If hiking in the CT is your primary interest, please stay current on the current status of access to the trails at http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/E...ri-outdoor.php

Of the blue trails only, only Monterosso-Vernazza and Vernazza-Corniglia were open in September when we last visited.
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Old Mar 27th, 2017, 05:06 PM
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Depends on your interests, but I think you may be trying to do a bit too much in the time you have.
- If you give yourself only 2 nights in the Cinque Terre, you risk not seeing ANY of it if the weather doesn't cooperate.
- People really vary in their interest in Florence -- I thought 5.5 days barely enough to see the highlights of the city itself; other people are happy with a day trip to the city.
- And Venice? Well, I would have hated having only a couple of days there.
- As already noted, if you book your flights separately (rather than as part of a single ticket), you risk missing your flight if you aren't in your destination city the night before your flight. Could be a VERY costly attempt at saving money!

Your trip, your call!

Good luck!
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Old Mar 27th, 2017, 07:56 PM
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Thanks y'all! I've decided wherever I fly out of I'll make sore to be in the city the night before and I probably won't risk the short connection times in case something does go wrong with flights etc! I have been keeping track of the CT national park site to see which trails are open! Coming from Colorado I do want to hike in CT but understand trains may be the only option if the weather doesn't cooperate! Might end up deciding on two of the places!
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